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Nella Larsen (April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964) was a Mulatto novelist of the Harlem Renaissance who wrote two novels and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, what she wrote was of extraordinary quality, earning her recognition by her contemporaries and by present day critics. Download high resolution version (585x750, 40 KB)Nella Larsen, photographed by James Allen in 1928, age 37. ...
Download high resolution version (585x750, 40 KB)Nella Larsen, photographed by James Allen in 1928, age 37. ...
April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ...
1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in leap years). ...
1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...
The Harlem Renaissance was a flowering of art, literature and music in the United States in the 1920s and early 1930s led by the African American community based in Harlem, New York City. ...
Biography Larsen went by various names throughout her life; born in Chicago on April 13, 1891 as Nellie Walker, the daughter of the Danish immigrant domestic worker [1] Marie Hanson [citation needed] and Peter Walker,[citation needed] a West Indian man of color from Saint Croix who soon disappeared from her life,[1]. Taking the surname of her Scandinavian stepfather Peter Larsen,[1] she also at times went by Nellye Larson,[citation needed] Nellie Larsen [citation needed] and, finally, Nella Larsen[1] as well as by her married name Nella Larsen Imes.[2] Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ...
April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). ...
1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles, (DWI, Dansk Vest Indien) are a former colony of Denmark in the Caribbean, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. ...
Saint Croix from space, January 1993 Saint Croix is one of the United States Virgin Islands, a United States territory, in the Caribbean. ...
Scandinavia, Fennoscandia, and the Kola Peninsula. ...
Larsen lived several years as a child with her mother's relations in Denmark, and in 1907-08, she briefly attended Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee, a historically Black University, which at that time had an entirely Black student body. George Hutchinson speculates that she was expelled for some violation of Fisk's very strict dress or conduct codes; she then spent four years in Denmark, before returning to the U.S. [3] Fisk University is a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. It was established by John Ogden, Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath and Reverend Edward P. Smith and named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmens Bureau. ...
Flag Seal Nickname: Music City Location Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Tennessee Davidson County Founded: Incorporated: 1780 1806 Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 526. ...
In the United States, Historically Black Colleges And Universities (HBCU) (a type of minority-serving institution or MSI) are colleges or universities that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. ...
In 1912, Larsen enrolled in the all-Black nursing school at New York City's Lincoln Hospital. Upon graduating in 1915, she went South to work at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama where she became head nurse at a hospital and training school. While in Tuskegee, she came in contact with Booker T. Washington's model of education and became disillusioned with it. (Washington died shortly after Larsen arrived in Tuskeegee.) Working conditions for nurses were poor—their duties included doing hospital laundry—and Larsen lasted only until 1916, at which time she returned to New York to work again as a nurse. However, after working as a nurse through the Spanish flu pandemic, she left nursing and became a librarian.[2] Flag Seal Nickname: Big Apple Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,214. ...
There is also the Tuskegee Airmen, a corps of African-American military pilots trained there during World War II Tuskegee University is an American institution of higher learning located in Tuskegee, Alabama. ...
Tuskegee is a city located in Macon County, Alabama. ...
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was a Mulatto-American political leader, educator and author. ...
The Spanish Flu Pandemic, also known as , , or the 1918 flu, was a pandemic caused by an unusually severe and deadly strain of the subtype H1N1 of the species Influenza A virus. ...
The Librarian, a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo A librarian is a person who develops procedures for organizing information and provides services which assist and instruct people in the most efficient and effective ways to identify, locate, access, and use information and resources (articles, books, magazines, etc. ...
In 1919, she married Elmer Samuel Imes, a prominent physicist, the second African American to receive a Ph.D in physics. They moved to Harlem, where Larsen took a job at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL).[2] In the year after her marriage, she began to write, publishing her first pieces in 1920. An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...
Harlem is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, long known as a major black cultural and business center. ...
New York Public Library, central block, built 1897–1911, Carrère and Hastings, architects (June 2003) The New York Public Library (NYPL), one of three public library systems serving New York City, is one of the leading libraries in the United States. ...
Certified in 1923 by the NYPL's library school, she transferred to a children's librarian's position in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In 1926, having made friends with important figures in the Negro Awakening that became the Harlem Renaissance, Larsen gave up her work as a librarian and began to work as a writer active in the literary community.[2] In 1928, she published Quicksand (ISBN 0-14-118127-3), a largely autobiographical novel, which received significant critical acclaim, if not great financial success. Mural on Orchard Street and Houston Street by artist Marco The Lower East Side is a neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. ...
In 1929, she published Passing (ISBN 0-14-243727-1), her second novel, which was also successful.
In 1930, Larsen published "Sanctuary" [1], a short story for which she was accused of plagiarism; also at this time her marriage was failing.
"Sanctuary" resembled Sheila Kaye-Smith’s short story "Mrs. Adis", first published in the UK in 1919. Kaye-Smith was an English writer, mainly on rural themes, and very popular in the US. "Sanctuary"’s basic plot, and a little of the descriptions and dialogue are virtually identical. Compared to Kaye-Smith’s tale, "Sanctuary" is longer, better written and more explicitly political, specifically around issues of race, rather than class as in "Mrs Adis". Larsen reworked and updated the tale into a modern American black context. Much later Sheila Kaye-Smith herself wrote in "All the Books of My Life" (Cassell, London, 1956) that she had in fact based "Mrs Adis" on an old story by St Francis de Sales. It is unknown whether she ever knew of the Larsen controversy. Sheila Kaye-Smith (4 February 1887 – January 14, 1956) was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. ...
Sheila Kaye-Smith (4 February 1887 – January 14, 1956) was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition. ...
Despite the accusations of plagiarism, which ultimately turned out to be false, Larsen received a Guggenheim Fellowship and traveled to Europe for several years, spending time in Mallorca and Paris, and working on a novel about a love triangle; the three protagonists were all white; the book was never published. [4] Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ...
Mallorca (in Catalan, Spanish, and English; also called Majorca in English) is one of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Illes Balears, Spanish: Islas Baleares), which are located in the Mediterranean Sea and are part of Spain. ...
City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur Tossed by the waves, she does not founder Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Département Paris (75) Région Île-de-France Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (PS) City (commune) Characteristics Land Area 86. ...
She returned to New York in 1933 after her divorce was complete. She lived on alimony until her ex-husband's death in 1942; she was no writing (and never would again), was apparently depressed, and may have been using drugs. After her ex-husband's death she returned to nursing and disappeared from the literary circles through which she had previously travelled. She lived on the Lower East Side, and did no venture to Harlem.[4] Many of her old acquaintances speculated incorrectly that she, like some of her characters, had crossed the color line and disappeared. In many countries alimony, maintenance or spousal support is an obligation established by law that is based on the premise that both spouses have an absolute obligation to support each other during the marriage (or civil union) unless they are legally separated, though in some instances the obligation to support...
Identity As mentioned above, Larsen was of biracial parentage and what would have been considered at the time "low birth". She obtained a good education (though not a college degree); she married into Harlem's black professional class (but never quite felt at home in it); she knew all the figures of the Harlem Renaissance, but was about a decade older than Langston Hughes' generation; she was, according to Darryl Pinckney, more comfortable in the interracial bohemia of Greenwich Village than among the "Talented Tenth". [2] Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936 Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and newspaper columnist. ...
Though a Bohemian is a native of the Czech province of Bohemia, a secondary meaning for bohemian emerged in 19th century France. ...
The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (pronounced Grennich Village; also called simply the Village) is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. ...
W. E. B. DuBois William Edward Burghardt DuBois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, writer, editor, poet, freemason, and scholar. ...
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Quicksand Nella Larsen's first novel tells the story of Helga Crane, a fictional character clearly based on Larsen herself. Crane is the daughter of a Danish mother and a black father, who goes to various places and communities in search of somewhere she feels her home. Her travels bring her in contact with many of the communities Larsen herself knew: "Naxos", a Southern Negro school based on Tuskegee University; Chicago, where her white relatives shun her; Harlem, where she finds a refined but often hypocritical black middle class obsessed with the "race problem"; Copenhagen, where she is treated as a highly desirable racial exotic; and finally the poor deep South, where she is disillusioned by people's blind adherence to religion. In each of these searches, Helga Crane fails to find fulfillment. A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ...
Tuskegee University is an American institution of higher learning located in Tuskegee, Alabama. ...
The novel also tells the tale of Helga's search for a marriage partner: it opens with her engaged to a prestigious Southern Negro man she does not really love, sees her turn down the proposal of a famous European artist, and ends with her seducing and marrying a Southern preacher. The novel's close is deeply pessimistic as Helga Crane sees what began as sexual fulfillment turn into an endless chain of pregnancies and suffering.
Passing Larsen's second novel tells the story of two light skinned women: Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. Clare Kendry is of mixed heritage, while Irene Redfield is fully African American but both are light enough to pass. Clare fully commits herself to passing and marries John Bellew, a white man who knows nothing of her heritage and affectionately and jokingly calls her "Nig" for her "tan" complexion. Irene lives in Harlem, commits herself to racial uplift, and marries a black doctor. The novel centers on the meeting of the two childhood friends later in life, and the unfolding of events as each women is fascinated and seduced by the other's daring lifestyle. The novel traces a tragic path as Irene finds out about the affair between Clare and her husband and Clare's race is revealed to John Bellew. The novel ends with Clare's sudden death by "falling" out of a window.
The end of the novel is famous for its ambiguity, which leaves open the possibility that Irene has pushed Clare out the window or the possibility that Clare has killed herself.
Many see this novel as an example of the plot of the tragic mulatto, a common figure in early African American literature. Others suggest that the novel complicates that plot by introducing the dual figures of Irene and Clare, who in many ways mirror and complicate each other. The novel also suggests erotic undertones in the two women's relationship, and some read the novel as one of repressed lesbian desire. Tragic mulatto is a myth describing an archetypical mulatto person or fictional character, who is assumed to be sad or even suicidal because he/she is caught between the two poles of the White and Black worlds without fully belonging to/being accepted by either of them. ...
Recently, Passing has received a great deal of attention because of its close attention to racial and sexual ambiguities and to liminal spaces. It has now achieved canonical status in many American universities.
Notes - ^ a b c d Pinckney, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d e Pinckney, p. 28.
- ^ Pinckney, p. 26-28.
- ^ a b Pinckney, p. 30.
References - Darryl Pinckney, "Shadows", The Nation, July 17/24, 2006, p.26–30. A review of Hutchinson's In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line.
Further reading - Thadious M. Davis, Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman's Life Unveiled by (ISBN 0-8071-2070-7).
- George Hutchinson, In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line
- Sheila Kaye-Smith, All the Books of My Life, Cassell, London, 1956
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